Burning Shadows
by Keshra
Summary: "Even when you become King, even if you forget about me, I will always be near for you." Generally PWP.


**Fandom: **Thor (Movie)**  
>Pairing:<strong> Thor/Loki**  
>Rating: <strong>R**  
>Summary: <strong>"Even when you become King, even if you forget about me, I will always be near for you." Generally PWP.  
><strong>AN: **Written for myself, posted on a whim.

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><p>They are young as Thor spars against Sif. His muscles are developing with a surprising speed as he approaches the end of his puberty with every day. On occasion Loki will join him in his morning spar, but more often than not, Loki has declined such offers in favor of resigning to his room to attend to his studies. Thor could not see the appeal of such a menial task; after all, what good was training of the mind if you could not defend with strength? Yet Loki seemed determined to scrawl runes and sigils on the floor and walls of his chamber, indulging in his magic.<p>

Sif attempts to land a blow on his shoulder as Thor swiftly dodges and seizes her arm and throws her to the ground in victory. "Enough," he calls as he puts his weapon away and offers her his hand to aid her in rising. Bitterly she takes it, visibly upset at having been defeated once more. "I will see you tomorrow, Sif? Or perhaps it is Volstagg's turn to partake in the morning spar?"

"No," she said as she turned to leave, "it is my turn once more. Tomorrow I will be more vigilant and you will not win, Thor."

He chuckled as she walked through the door and could not help but to notice that she had grown into one of the finest women in Asgard. Her ability to wield a weapon and manage her own in a fight was respected even amongst the mightiest warriors, but that did not stop the womanly sway of her hips to draw the eyes of surrounding men, and Thor was no exception.

This subtle admiration of the woman had not gone unnoticed by Loki who frequently sat in the shadows as he observed his brother's morning spars. An ancient book with pages that smelled of mold and use lay across his lap where he sat. At his brother's glance, Loki closed the book and turned to leave as his stomach felt like ice. It was normal he knew, but that didn't stop Loki from wondering how it would be different if perhaps Thor's eyes appraised him in such a way rather than such a woman like Sif.

No. It wouldn't do for these thoughts to continue, Thor was the star of Asgard, noticed by all, it would only be fitting for him to bed such a woman as Sif, and certainly it was not Loki's place to be attempting to gain his brother's attentions as he had when they were children. They did not embrace any longer, mostly on Loki's avoidance. They had stopped sharing chambers when Thor had entered puberty, and they rarely even shared words unless it was in discussion of important matters. Now Thor entertained the Warriors Three and Lady Sif. He did not have time for Loki, and in turn Loki devoted his time to his studies and his magic, determined to rise in intelligence while Thor excelled in strength and friendship.

His brother's shadow was all consuming, and though Loki had not started hiding in it, over time as his brother moved forward into the public eye of Asgard, he had slunk behind the God of Thunder, slipping into the shadows, unnoticed by anyone unless presenting himself before them.

Their father, once lavishing equal attention on both, now only praised Thor's accomplishments, congratulating Loki as merely an afterthought. It seemed as though his role in the world of Asgard was being defined for him, and who was Loki to disobey? Thor, after all, was the one who would one day become King; Odin had made it abundantly clear.

As the Warriors Three stood at the door where Thor joined them, Loki disappeared in the shadows as he made his way back to his chambers. Thor had no need of him and neither did Asgard, but if his brother was to become King, he would support him every step of the way, he would watch over his throne and make sure no harm came to him. He would... what was the mortal term he had read? 'Look but not touch,' no matter how much he desired to, and Thor would never be able to know.

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><p>Laughing merrily with the rush of warm mead, Thor clapped one hand on Loki's shoulder as they left the dining hall. It was late and perhaps Thor was not in the clearest state of mind, but his brother walked beside him and that was all he had wanted. "It has been too long since we walked like this, brother."<p>

Beside him Loki merely nodded, his shoulder tensing under Thor's grasp. How had he managed to be goaded int such a situation? Had any of the others stayed behind, Loki would have allowed them to escort Thor to his chambers, but instead the task had been laid on his shoulders, and Loki was uncertain that he could manage Thor in such a state.

"Tell me, brother, why do you scurry amongst the shadows like a common mouse? I have wished to speak with you for some time now, but you appear to be avoiding me."

"Why would you want to talk to me? Are your friends not sufficient in providing the attention you desire? I would have thought them more suitable than I."

"You are my brother, Loki, no one could possibly replace you."

So one would think, thought Loki bitterly, though he knew it wasn't true. Given a lifetime or perhaps two and Loki would only be a faded blur in the back of Thor's mind. He was not delusional enough to think otherwise. "My apologies then, brother. I merely assumed that you had outgrown me." At this point they had reached Thor's chambers and Loki swiftly opened the door and led the God of Thunder inside. "Come, you need to sleep."

A look of confusion passed across Thor's face, and Loki tried to look away as he led his brother to his bed. As Thor sat down, Loki pulled his hand away from his brother's shoulder and turned to leave the room, his normally cold hand ablaze with the brief contact of his hand with Thor's fabric.

"Wait," called Thor as he grabbed the trickster's wrist and pulled him close. Though the smaller man stumbled for a moment, he quickly recovered and stood in front of the intoxicated man. "What do you mean that you would have thought I could outgrow you? You are not like a lullaby Mother would sing to us, or my sparring weapons. You are my brother."

"Forget it, Thor, you're clearly intoxicated and this is no time to have any such discussion," said Loki in dismissal. His wrist felt like it was burning with warmth. He needed to leave.

"It is important to you," justified Thor as he stood and clapped his hand on Loki's shoulder for the second time during the night. His face was flushed as his eyes searched Loki's face for something. "What troubles you?"

"It was a slip of the tongue, nothing more." Lie as he might with his silver tongue, Loki could not ignore the fire that slid under his skin and through his veins. "Sleep now, if you wish to discuss it further in the morning then we shall."

He reached up and hesitantly placed one hand on his brother's cheek, muttering an incantation under his breath. "Sleep," he said one final time as Thor fell onto his back. Loki drew a fur over Thor's sleeping form, leaning down to smooth it as he pressed his forehead to Thor's, feeling the warmth invade him, making him feel everything he shouldn't within the hollowness he had tried to carve into himself. Moving his head down, he pressed his lips to Thor's, light as a feather, just enough for them to touch.

He disappeared into the shadows of the forest, his body was too warm with the heat of Thor stolen within him. The frozen forest where he retreated numbed his skin and his mind. He would not meet with Thor tomorrow.

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><p>A week passed and Loki had successfully avoided his brother, but he could not escape his mind or his memories. He remembered the heat on his skin when Thor had touched him in the simplest of ways, and though he tried to recreate that feeling, Loki could not feel warmth no matter how hot the fire. While the burns on his hands should have proven the warmth, Loki could not feel it.<p>

On his bed was one of Thor's furs which he buried his hands into as he twisted his limbs around it. Thor's scent still lingered strongly on them as Loki inhaled deeply, one hand reaching down to wrap around himself as he did so. Thoughts of Thor pushed him closer and closer; he closed his eyes imagining what it would be like if it was not his hand, soft and smooth, and instead was Thor's rough and calloused, stroking him to his climax.

His fingers stretched and grasped at the fur beneath him with his labored breath, and he let his illusions run wild as the sensation of a kiss was pressed to his neck by lips and stubble, hair grazed over his shoulder and collarbone. Loki reached his other hand up to tangle in the hair, but it was left to fall into the fur when it all proved to be nothing but the illusion of his mind, yet the sensations continued downwards. Arching his back, his head tilted back in ecstasy with a gasp as he teetered over the edge. He curled up in the fur, but he still felt hollow and cold.

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><p>It wasn't until the coldest winter Asgard had ever seen that Thor was able to speak to Loki again. He remembered little aside from the fact that one night he had indulged in too much mead nearly two months ago. Sif had informed him one night after he had taken her that Loki had been the one to take him back to his chambers. Since then, Thor had been plagued with curiosity as to why he had not seen his brother since that night. Had something occurred between them that had frightened Loki into the shadows permanently?<p>

He wished to reconcile with his brother, Thor would endure the most horrible of punishments before he would have Loki angry with him. Long ago his mother had talked to him about Loki, how he acted around him. Though it had taken many winters, Thor had finally understood that the way he felt about Loki was akin to the way he felt when he looked at women such as Sif, but it was not the same. He would allow every woman he encountered fall before he let anything happen to his brother.

Had he shown these feelings to his brother, and had they frightened him away? It was the only explanation that Thor could reach. He was well aware of how he acted when he was intoxicated, and he knew that the little control he did have, tended to slip away.

That was why he was the first to reach his brother's chambers when a maid informed him that Loki had not risen for two days. The sight of his brother lying motionless struck fear deep within Thor as he banished the maid and informed her to allow no one else in. The last time this had happened was when they were very young, Loki had just learned his first spell and the winter crept through the walls of Asgard, laying a chill over all within, something that had not been felt in a hundred years. His mother had assured him it was a simple illness brought on by the cold, but now it was happening again.

Taking a seat beside his brother, Thor placed on hand over his. Though he knew his brother's hands always had a tendency to feel like the chill of death, he swore he could not feel the pulse beneath the paper skin this time. His hand was like ice, and despite himself, Thor began to worry and he took both hands in his own, easily encompassing them; he always had jested that Loki had the hands of a maiden, and many times he had wondered if they would feel like a maiden's against his skin in the middle of the night.

"Brother, whatever I have done to offend you, I deeply apologize," he said as he sat on the edge of the bed. The sight of one of the furs on the bed caught his eye, and Thor recognized it as the one that had gone missing from his own chambers many weeks ago. He remembered it distinctly because the beast that had given it was a mighty one that may have slain Thor if the trickster had not stepped in.

He smiled wryly at the memory before turning his eyes back to his younger brother who seemed to be more at peace than he had in the past decade. Loki had been like a shade over the past several years, Thor heard nothing from him or about him. It was as though he had faded into the shadows of the palace, only appear when summoned or when needed, and perhaps this was Thor's fault. When the Warriors Three and Lady Sif entered his life, he spent less and less time with Loki until he started to only see him at meals and family meetings, and while Thor felt as though Loki was always nearby, he would prefer the man be by his side than watching from his shadow.

"I am sorry for everything." It is not often that Thor is reduced to apologies, but his brother will always come first.

The ice hands in his grip continued to worry Thor as he recalled what he was taught when he was younger about techniques for how to handle various situations. Body heat, he was told, was the best way to stay warm, and clearly Loki was not warm. Shedding his clothes from the waist up, he did the same for his brother before lying beside the unmoving form and pulling him into his arms. Should it take all day or even several, Thor would wait if it meant that Loki would be fine.

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><p>Loki was burning. His skin was dancing with flames, down his arms, surrounding his back and torso. His limbs were heavy, and his eyes resisted the temptation of opening. He remembered little aside from feeling colder than usual, and very weary, just as he had many years ago. Though surely it wasn't the same this time.<p>

He tried to sit up as he opened his eyes, but when arms tightened around him, his muscles tightened as he leaned back against now what he recognized to be a warm chest. In the corner of his eye he could see a familiar patch of blond hair. Thor. Perhaps if he didn't feel as though he was on fire, his blood would have run cold.

Gently, Loki attempted to remove his brother's arms from around him, but all he got for his effort was a stubble-covered chin pressed into the crook of his neck. Releasing a sigh, he leaned back and wondered how long until Thor would rise. How long would he be able to stay like this, the way that plagued his dreams. Tilting his head to the side, Loki inhaled the scent of Thor, the same scent that had clung to the fur for days before it had faded. Letting his eyes slip close again, he took in the moment, allowing himself to be dangerously close to Thor, perhaps for the last time. "Even when you become King, even if you forget about me, I will always be near for you."

"I could never forget about you." Loki froze at the sound of Thor's voice, the prickling heat becoming more pronounced on his skin than before. "Tell me, why have you avoided my presence? Did I offend you that night when I had indulged in too much mead?"

"Offended me?" Loki was surprised. He had assumed his brother would remember the conversation that had been held that night. "How might you have offended me, brother?" Though he tried to keep his voice flat, he could not help the lilt of curiosity that colored the end of the question.

"Perhaps that night," Thor's hands moved Loki so that the elder could be free to sit up and loom over the trickster, "I did not treat you as a brother." They were both staring at each other, despite both sitting up, Thor still had the height advantage, forcing Loki to look up at the Thunder God.

"How else would you treat me?" He was treading dangerous waters, bu there was something in the tone that Thor had spoken in that allowed for a sliver of hope to creep into his stomach, burrowing there.

Thor's hand brushed gently over Loki's cheek as he leaned in and kissed him in the same manner he would treat a frightened animal so as not to scare it away; however, Loki soon responded, his hands lying on Thor's chest before sliding up to cradle his head and pull him closer, deeper into this kiss. It was what Loki had been tormented by in his dreams for many nights, and now he wanted to take advantage of the situation.

Warm, strong hands gripped Loki's waist, guiding him down onto the bed as the younger twisted his fingers in Thor's hair, as though he was afraid to let go, drinking in every inch of Thor before the moment was lost to him. One hand remained on his waist while another slid over his stomach, and Loki arched his back in response, moaning into the kiss and pulling on Thor's hair, receiving a bite to his lower lip for it. Then the warm hand slid down his navel under his remaining clothes, discarding them with ease before taking Loki into his hand.

Even with all his talent at illusions, Loki was never able to imagine, let alone recreate, the exact feel of this moment, the texture of Thor's hand and the heat of the blood rushing through his veins. He allowed a silent gasp to slip through his lips against the other pair, grabbing tighter and tighter, but then the feeling was gone and Loki was quivering in need. Thor murmured something to him, perhaps encouraging words, but he was too far gone to comprehend them.

One, two, three fingers were in him and Loki bit down on Thor's shoulder to keep from making a sound, only allowing the quietest of whimpers when Thor entered him and heat exploded within him, searing him from the inside out. Loki knew he was branded for the rest of his life, even if no one else would know, he would, and this moment was the branding.

His fingers dug into Thor's muscular back, dragging down a bit further with every thrust. He pressed his forehead to Thor's collarbone, and the blond haired man quickly captured him with another kiss as his movements became faster, and Loki could feel himself losing what little sense of control he had left until the heat, everything became too much and he broke the kiss as his head lolled back with unadulterated bliss. A few moments later, Thor reached his climax, the hand that had slid down to Loki's hip clamped down in a bruising grip before easing off as Thor pulled himself away and gathered Loki into his arms.

In that moment, there was no shame or regret. They had no needs for words or attempted explanations. In that moment, they were equals, as they had always been.


End file.
